Robot 6

Two cool comics you can’t read in English (yet)

Right now, you can read two great new comics by respected creators online — provided you can read their languages.

Did you take French in college? Then head to Guy Delisle’s blog, where you can enjoy the goofy humor of Le guide du mauvais père (roughly, “Guide for the bad dad”). You really don’t have to be briefed in the particulars of the perfect tense, or even too well acquainted with Dr. and Mrs. Vandertramp, to enjoy these comics; the language is straightforward and the visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting, at least in the strips I read. (Click each of the cartoons on the linked page to get a short story.)

And for those who speak Japanese, here’s a special treat: The magazine Ikki, source of such well-regarded manga as Children of the Sea and Sexy Voice and Robo, launched its webcomics site this week — in Japanese — with a short story by Natsume Ono based on the characters of her popular House of Five Leaves. Anime News Network has more details, and here’s a direct link to the comic (scroll down), which is short and is drawn in a more gag-type style than the original manga. Even if, like me, you can’t read a single kana or kanji, it’s worth a click just to look at Ono’s art.

Wow, that Delisle blog is awesome. I’m way too rusty on my French, but Google can help. (I wish I could cut and paste instead of typing everything in, but that’s a better way to learn the language, anyway. Thanks for the link!